Monday, February 27, 2012

1802- THE HARVARD PROFESSOR

Caught an interesting show the other night- a Harvard economist [liberal] gave a lecture on economics.

Now- when I say ‘liberal’ I do not use the term in a derogatory way- no- he was the type of economist that would fit into the category of a Paul Krugman.

Krugman writes for the N.Y. Times and often [always?] gives you the Keynesian view.

So anyway this Harvard prof. made some good points.

But he blundered somewhat in his defense of Socialism/communism.

He talked about Karl Marx [the ‘founder’ of the system] and said that what happened in the Silicon Valley boom [the Dot.com businesses] was a type of Marxism.

The internet boom companies had a different view of the business structure- instead of the ‘bosses’ being over the working class stiff- you would have the actual employees run the show.

Yeah- when you watch the documentaries on Facebook [and other Companies like it] you do see an environment where all these young ‘hipsters’ are calling the shots- and they do have a sense of freedom that you don’t see in the standard business model.

But the Harvard Prof. went a step too far when he compared this to Marx.

Marx was raised in Germany- he was a Jew.

His father had to re-locate his business and join the Lutheran church in order to fit in with the people he needed to do business with.


Marx would eventually go to ‘university’ in England- and he developed his ideas in an environment where the industrial revolution took off.

He witnessed the plight of the working class man [proletariat] and how he became a victim of the factory system.

In England you did see many hopeless workers fall prey to a lifestyle that had you going to work at the factory all day- often in a dark and dingy environment.

You would come home to a gloomy existence and often drink yourself to sleep.

Marx saw the working class as victims of the Ownership class [the original 99 versus the 1%].

Marx saw that those who ran the system- and ‘owned the tools’ had the true influence in society- and according to Marx- they used two primary means of controlling the masses.

Law and Religion.

So Marx advocated for a violent overthrow of the system- thru Revolutionary means- in order to free the working class slave from the power of the few.

Now- where the Harvard Prof missed it is he compared Marx’s idea to the Dotcom business model.

Facebook and other internet businesses- they tried to empower the worker by making him part owner.

When Facebook went public this last month [Initial public offering] it was said to have made many millionaires overnight.

Why?

Because those who got in at the start [even the kid who painted the Graffiti on the walls of the building] were offered the option of cash or stock.

Those who took the stock became rich when the company went public [it actually will go into effect if a couple of more months].

So- this model empowers the working class person by making him part owner.

Okay- Marx wanted to ‘level the field’ by putting the State in charge.

He felt like if you took the power away from the private owner [capitalism] then you could even out the scales by making the state decide how much pay was fair- and the state would literally own ‘the tools’ of the system.

Most of us know by now that his system failed pretty badly [Soviet Union].

Though he meant well- trying to defend the hopeless worker- yet he created a Monster State- and the state would become the new oppressor of the people- and take away the incentive that the private ownership model gave.

So all in all- the Harvard prof had some truth to what he said- but he went a step too far.

In today’s political climate- we all have a tendency to hear one side- and if we lineup with that side- we very rarely question those who advocate the way we believe.

It’s important to hear both sides- to give credit to the ideas that are good- and then reject the ideas that are bad.

Marx had some very legitimate concerns- the founder of the Salvation Army- William Booth- began his ministry to the same class of people that Marx saw.

Marx rejected religion because he believed the ownership class used it to keep the masses under.

Any truth to this?

Some.

Many of the Black slaves were encouraged to attend church and keep singing their Black spiritual songs.

Why?

Many of the themes of these great songs did indeed encourage the suffering servant to just hold on until he/she gets to the Promised Land.

As a matter of fact- many of the themes taught that if you rebelled against the slave owner then you would forfeit your reward in the hereafter.

Marx experienced the power of religion- and the role it played in his own family in Germany- his father had to join the Lutheran church- even though he was Jewish- just so he could be in contact with the people of influence in his town.

So yes- it’s good to hear both sides- give credit when you can- and also reject what you must.

Yeah- the Harvard Prof seemed to be a good guy- he knew his stuff- just not well enough.

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John

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